Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood

by Vincent Coppola

Midcentury decades before the Whole Foods went up and the lofts were refurbished, a raucous, unruly, proudly Italian-American enclave clings to the banks of the noxious canal. The Mafia and the Catholic Church—two centuries-old, rigidly-hierarchical institutions defined by oppressive codes of silence—dominate the neighborhood.

In Gowanus Crossing, Vincent Coppola brings the world of his childhood ferociously to life. A former Newsweek correspondent with bylines in outlets like Esquire and Rolling Stone, Coppola grew up in old Gowanus, a bookish kid for whom Park Slope, to say nothing of Central Park, might as well have been the moon. His journey through and eventually out of the neighborhood is both harrowing and hilarious, and populated with a cast of characters who burst off the a four-foot tall wiseguy who walks a lion on a leash, a predatory priest, mobbed-up undertakers, Coppola’s three wayward brothers, and a host of assorted schemers, scammers, mobsters, bookies, gamblers, and certifiable crazies.

Combining Frank McCourt’s gimlet eye for gritty reality with the exuberant menace of a Scorsese movie, Gowanus Crossing captures a lost world in all its gritty glory.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, New York, Biography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 9, 2026

Reviews

[Anna]

When Henry Holt Books offered to send me a finished copy of GOWANUS CROSSING: A BROOKLYN BOYHOOD by Vincent Coppola, I jumped at the chance. My own memoir could be called Bensonhurst: A Brooklyn Girlhood, so it’s understandable that I would find connection with Coppola’s experiences.

Coppola tells his story through short vignettes heavy on fantastical characters that seem almost too contrived and stereotyped to be real. But, if you grew up in the Brooklyn of the 60s and 70s like I did, you would recognize them as the friends and family that populated your youth. Big personalities, creative monikers, and close proximity are the hallmarks of the large, close knit immigrant communities that made up Brooklyn at that time.

Coppola is a product of both his family and his neighborhood. A child of blue collar parents, he dreams of escaping and education is his ticket out. He reflects on the influence of the Catholic Church, parochial schools, the Mob, and the drug culture that was prevalent during that time. All of this felt very familiar to me.

The majority of this book felt like a walk down memory lane, yet it was the ending that revealed the underlying message of this memoir. GOWANUS CROSSING is a love letter and tribute to the place and people that formed the foundation upon which a life was built.

Thank you to Henry Holt Books for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

[Dina · Rating 2 out of 5]

*some spoilers ahead*

Coppola writes in a carefree, almost joking manner about sickening behavior: finding a discarded baby on the street and not reporting it, setting a building on fire, bullying, et al.

He can’t go a chapter without dropping a racial slur and even though people spoke that way freely in his childhood, Coppola is writing from what seems to be a random contemporary stream of consciousness and he’s way too comfortable.

Finally, the way he writes about women is dated and nauseating. This sentence finally made me abandon the book: “Tovah is one of those good-looking well-bred Jewish girls Sharkey would have loved to seduce”.

All in all, this book would have been more engaging if it was written in chronological order, if it was edited by someone in touch with today’s culture, and if Coppola had acknowledged or analyzed the things he did, the way he spoke to and about people, and the language he uses as he recounts his memories today.

[Jim Willse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. Among the best NYC neighborhood memoirs ever, says a guy from 181st Street. Highly recommended.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old English poets (not T.S. Elliot in his later years but those Anglo Saxon guys before the Norman invasion), when not being hacked up by Vikings or scorched by dragons, would often tear up in the presence of Roman ruins. They’d plop down on a shattered stone, marble shard or something, take in all the decay of once magnificent structures, and imagine those doomed overlords having a fine old time frolicking in baths or feeding la dolce vita grapes to voluptuous signorinas in the sack. Then the scribes would sigh or sometimes frown and conclude: well, sic transit gloria, dudes, nothing lasts forever. This became so common a literary theme that scholars attached a name to it: the Ubi Sunt motif – “Where are they now?”

Gowanus Crossing, an eagerly awaited memoir by Vincent Coppola with a lot of pre-publication buzz, doesn’t wonder where the old denizens of its redeveloped streets are now. They’re all dead, many taken by the toxins that surrounded the neighborhood. Instead, Vince, a retired journalist, looked at his ramshackle boyhood environs along a fetid canal as it was being transformed into a sea of high rise apartment buildings (atop polluted brown field deposits) and decided to preserve what really matters: stories of the unexpected triumphs and overwhelming tragedies of his working class family, friends and neighbors. In the process, he has lovingly documented life in a Brooklyn neighborhood as it once existed in all its raw, riotous, sorrowful, insulated glory. Plus, at no extra charge: a compendium of 20th Century Italian curse words and phrases.

Many such neighborhoods have been disappearing for better or worse over the past 30 years as a result of Brooklyn having “its moment” – a very long-lasting one it would seem – so there will certainly be other “crossings” from the sons and daughters of Old Brooklyn, but they will be hard-put to match this one.

Coppola’s prose is energetic, propulsive, edgy, sly, funny and profoundly touching even though his sentences can’t wait to finish and get on to the next one. Battling cancer tends to make a writer appreciate the urgency of the moment. There are no buildings lovingly described here, no architectural excursions, no mini-tutorials on the economics, organized crime, or domestic violence that oppress their occupants. But there are people, so many gloriously interesting saints and sinners captured amidst their ruins. 32 chapters filled with lives colliding along the soupy miasma of a canal which made occasional visits to the basement of the author’s home. Brooklyn’s Nile he calls it.

This book has already outlasted all the haunts its denizens once populated and it will outlast all of us reading it now, but not because of the contrast between glitzy upzoned Gowanus and the “good old days” (go to Facebook pages if you want treacle like that). No, it will survive as long as the capacity to laugh and cry at beautifully crafted narratives reflecting our shared humanity is still valued.

Yes, the contrast is stark between today’s Gowanus with its rooftop pools, spas and gyms and post-WWII Gowanus with its pools of sewage, feuding undertakers and bugged social clubs. But as Freud once wrote, echoing Goethe, there is nothing more deadening to the human spirit than an endless succession of sunny days. The Gowanus that Vinny Coppola revivifies is alive with so much carnal energy, passion and dark laughter that I found it hard to leave behind.

[alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is full of heart and nostalgia and is often engaging but i found myself wanting a stronger sense of why the author’s stories matter beyond their own experience.

perhaps if i had also been alive during the 1960s or had deep ties to Brooklyn then it might have changed my perspective on this one, but as it stands i didn’t see the point in reading about a lot of the memories and stories beyond a person sharing their nostalgia. of course their nostalgia is valid and important to them and those who were there, but i couldn’t figure out why it was important enough for a stranger (me) to be reading about it. maybe more of a connection to present day Brooklyn would have solidified this for me? or more time spent getting to know each person that was mentioned, instead of just short chapter snippets. i have no issue with reading deeply personal memoirs about people who i have no connection to, but i felt like i had no idea who these people were and their introductions and stories were so fleeting that i wasn’t able to feel any type of connection to them. the disjointed organization of the chapters also made it a bit hard to connect with. we are constantly jumping between years, decades, family members, community members.

i think this is worth the read if you’re an italian american who grew up in the second half of the twentieth century but you might find it hard to connect with otherwise.

thanks to Henry Holt for the gifted copy!

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in a family and place that could not have been more different than Coppola's Italian-American Gowanus Canal community, yet I found this memoir so well-written and compelling that I could hardly put it down. The people he knew and describes vividly could be the cast of a Shakespearean tragedy. They are people he loves and whose lives are shaped and too often doomed by the poverty, corruption and ignorance they are born into - a fate very few are able to escape. Despite this arc, the book is full of humor and warmth as well as pathos and grief. Highly recommended.

[Ilan Israel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this fascinating memoir and decided to read it. I was not disappointed.
Vincent Coppola, a prize-winning journalist, writes of his life growing up in one of the toughest areas of Brooklyn, next to a putrescent canal, surrounded by a large family , in a poor working class Italian neighborhood, dominated by the Catholic Church and the mob.
Somehow Vincent manages to navigate out of this area , studies journalism at Columbia and becomes a writer. This memoir is peppered with larger than life characters, many of whom were his immediate family and the many cousins who lived nearby.
The memoir is beautifully written, and sounds authentic and kept me hooked from the first page, but if you’re looking for a pleasant reminiscence, this book, told with humor but filled with poverty, prejudices, illness and violence may not be for you. It shows the decline of an immigrant neighborhood and the break up of an extended family structure.

[Cyndy Wetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a life, what a "Brooklyn Boyhood"! Vincent Coppola experienced a childhood few of us would ever experience or even hear about. I found myself being, at turns, endlessly fascinated and on the edge of my seat, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wow, what a rollercoaster ride! The descriptions of the people he grew up around (both good and bad), the schools he went to, the friends he had, the predicaments he got into, were all tied together in a way that makes you feel as if you were watching it happen. This book is very difficult to put down; I highly recommend.

[Dawn Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant- poetic, heartbreaking, heartwarming- a veritable moment in time that will never be again… writing is from the heart without mush or judgement… the characters are runyonesque but real…. rich in it’s poverty- just a capo lavoro!!

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author’s reminiscences of growing up in Brooklyn by the toxic Gowanus Canal in an Italian working class neighborhood.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for choosing me to read and review this book. I loved this book. I was born in the 50s. The author is a wonderful writer and takes you to a time that is long gone. I loved it and will add the book to my bookshelf of my favorite books.

[Ryo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.

A well-written memoir about the author's experiences growing up in Gowanus, a neighborhood of Brooklyn that was heavily Italian-American in the 20th century. It's told as a series of short chapters, jumping around in time, which makes it hard to be invested in a narrative arc, though.

The book contains a bunch of short chapters, where the author talks about his experiences growing up and revisiting Gowanus, and the various, often colorful people he interacted with. It's written in vivid detail and also with clear affection for many of the people in the author's life that he spends time with in Gowanus. He touches upon a lot of aspects of life there, like his experiences in Catholic school, the dumping and pollution there, organized crime, and the tight-knit community he was a part of. The atmosphere is described well and in detail, and the author really brings the place to life, both in its geography and in its citizens. Some of these stories seem so wild that they couldn't have possibly happened, but the author writes in such a convincing way that it's easy to swallow these episodes.

The fragmented nature of the book, though, makes it hard to feel invested in the author's life story. The book often introduces multiple people in rapid succession, barely developing them, and so it's hard to get to know a lot of these characters the book describes, even though they are often described quite evocatively. There's some sense of chronology near the beginning when the author describes his childhood in Catholic school and applying to get into local high schools, but there's not really an arc described after that, with chapters jumping back and forth in time. Wives and children are mentioned but not really explored in depth, which may be purposeful for personal reasons, but it left me wanting for more about the author's personal life. And the usages of racial and homophobic slurs with little to no explanation felt gratuitous. The book does a great job of describing the time and place without needing to resort to such tactics.

It's an interesting memoir based in an interesting place, with plenty of interesting characters. But I do think a more straightforward narrative structure would have made a more compelling and cohesive story for me.

[Erin Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood
by Vincent Coppola

Thank you Henry Holt for the ARC.

Gowanus Crossing is a vivid, memory driven portrait of a Brooklyn that no longer exists, told with equal parts grit, humor, and reflection. Vincent Coppola brings his childhood neighborhood to life in a way that feels chaotic and alive, filled with larger than life personalities and the kind of stories that sound almost exaggerated until you realize they probably are not.

The strength of the book is in its sense of place. Coppola captures the texture of midcentury Gowanus, the influence of the Church, the shadow of organized crime, and the tight knit, often volatile nature of the community. There is a rawness to it that feels honest, especially when he does not shy away from the darker elements of that world.

The storytelling is episodic, moving between moments, people, and years rather than following a strict narrative line. That approach works in building atmosphere, though it can make it harder to stay fully grounded in any one thread. Some readers may find themselves wanting deeper development of certain people or a clearer throughline connecting it all.

What comes through consistently is Coppola’s voice. There is warmth there, even when the memories themselves are difficult. He balances the harshness of his environment with humor and reflection, which gives the book a sense of perspective rather than just nostalgia.

This will likely resonate most with readers who enjoy slice of life memoirs or who have a connection to that time and place, but even outside of that, there is value in the snapshot it provides.

A strong, atmospheric memoir that prioritizes memory and place over structure.
3.5 stars.

[Pablo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the softcover advance reader's edition, so there may be some changes from the final published version, although I expect not much. Which is a shame, because:

This isn't a biography and although it's sub-titled "A Brooklyn Boyhood", it's not a chronological telling of said boyhood. Instead, it's a series of vignettes, mostly from the author's life growing up near the Gowanus Canal. Some of the stories read like newspaper accounts, some like fleshed out newspaper accounts. Many concern various characters encountered by the author growing up, mostly of the Italian mafiosi. The book is disjointed; there are references and/or repetitions within stories to other stories in the book.

It was not until I read the acknowledgement at the end that I realized why this was so. The book is based upon the author's social media postings. And it would appear from reading the book that it's just a collection of those postings. Instead of turning those postings into a coherent book, told in a linear fashion, they're just repackaged into book form. That might work for a cookbook but I don't think it works well here.

If you'd like a slight glimpse of what life was like growing up around the Italian mob in the late 20th century, take a gander. Otherwise, I didn't find this book compelling.

[Filomena Mealy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vincent Coppola brings Brooklyn to life with honesty, heart, and vivid detail. He shares his childhood memories in a way that feels real and personal. I felt like I walked beside him on busy streets, sat in his home, and listened to the voices that shaped his early years.

Coppola writes with warmth and clarity. He shows the strength of family, the importance of community, and the lessons he learned while growing up. He does not hide the hard moments, but he balances them with humor, love, and hope. That balance makes the story feel true and relatable.

I connected with his story because he focuses on simple, meaningful experiences. He shows how small moments can shape a person’s life. He paints a clear picture of Brooklyn during that time, and he helps the reader understand both the challenges and the beauty of that world.

This book reads like a conversation with someone who wants to share his past with care and pride. Coppola honors his roots, and he invites the reader to reflect on their own.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs about family, identity, and growing up. It is a warm, thoughtful, and memorable read.

[Julian Jaramillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5.0 stars.

Won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was excited to find out that it was an advanced copy. Going in mostly blind, I didn't realize that this book was a memoir until I began to notice that there wasn't really a "plot" or overarching storyline. While I recognize that a memoir is about telling one's lived experiences (which might not always make a neat "plot"), I often found myself asking why this book was written other than the author's own nostalgia. Several of the sections feel more like detached tidbits rather than parts of a longer narrative. After a while, the format of each chapter becomes a little predictable (not-so-spoiler alert: everyone dies eventually). Coppola often alludes to future gentrification of Gowanus, but he never talks about it in depth which was a bit disappointing.

Having said all that, Coppola's writing style is actually very nice, and there were a few sections I reread. Coppola also includes several small details that makes each character come to life. In a way, this book is more of a portrait of the people of Gowanus Crossing during his childhood.

[David Geracioti · Rating 4 out of 5]

(This is really a 3.5 rating but I am rounding up to 4). I enjoyed this book. However, I’m not sure it would be all that compelling to people with no connection to the Gowanus and surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the stories are moving and/or entertaining. But the collection as a whole is lacking significance beyond its setting. Coppola seems reluctant to reflect on or express his deeper feelings about the themes in his stories: e.g., the evolution of the Gowanus area, hypermasculinity (especially re mafia subculture), poverty/working class challenges, neighborhood blight, etc. When he does, it’s usually only surface level. As a result, it reads like a (polished) personal journal.

But, another (somewhat charitable) way to view it, is that refraining from trying to inject or layer these stories with any broader statements about, for example, neighborhood change/development/gentrification and the resulting cultural dissipation, is an intentional statement itself - i.e., that personal stories do not always need to be about something other than the people and the places and the person sharing them.

[Michelle Tuite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading 2026
Book 178: Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood by Vincent Coppola

My nonfiction reading has been lacking this year, and my goal of 25% is in danger. With that in mind, have had my eye on this book. Listened on audio. Sadly, the author does not narrate.

Synopsis: In Gowanus Crossing, Vincent Coppola brings the world of his childhood ferociously to life. A former Newsweek correspondent with bylines in outlets like Esquire and Rolling Stone, Coppola grew up in old Gowanus, a bookish kid for whom Park Slope, to say nothing of Central Park, might as well have been the moon.

Review: Gowanus is more a collection of essays, than a cohesive chronological memoir. For that reason the flow of the book was off, and the cast of characters lost on this reader. The chapter on his mother dying was heart wrenching. Think I would have liked the book better in the physical form to follow along better. My rating 3⭐️.

[Brent Oldland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am reminded of the TV show of my youth that ended with the classic line, "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."

Mr. Coppola's biographical account of his childhood home is just such a story. It is very well-written and most compelling. I put my own life on hold for the better part of two days while I savored his book. I particularly enjoyed the unique structure he used. Rather than a lifetime portrayed in chronological order, he writes as if he and the reader were simply shooting the breeze and having a friendly conversation. This style adds immeasurably to the book's emotional appeal.

He and I are of the same generation, and yet our lives and experiences are worlds apart. I'm grateful that he shared his story.

[Lisa Cobb Sabatini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won an Advance Reader's Edition of Gowanus Crossing by Vincent Coppola from Goodreads.

With superb writing, A touch of humor, and incredible insight, Vincent Coppola welcomes readers to the neighborhood where he grew up in his memoir Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood. Readers are quickly absorbed into Coppola's world of bigger-than-life characters, unbelievable circumstances, shocking twists, and stunning turns. At times funny, more often poignant, life along the Gowanus is ever changing, fleeting, unique, and familiar. Readers laugh and cry, fall in live with the people, and come away changed themselves.

[Alma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tragedies and triumphs of growing up, the author's love of learning, as well as the path that led to his becoming a teacher and leaving the neighborhood are all recounted. Readers get a glimpse into the language, habits, cooking style, activities, hopes, and dreams of Italians living in Gowanus during the Brooklyn of yore after World War II. Read more on my blog about this ARC I was sent by the Publisher in exchange for an honest review: https://shouldireaditornot.wordpress....

[Deena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received this ARC from Goodreads. I would give the book 3.5 stars. The book is a reunion and remembrance of growing up in Brooklyn. It will resonate with anyone who knows Brooklyn, Italian culture and/or time period. The descriptions were vivid and made me feel connected to the neighborhood. It is not a linear story, there are many extended “family” members so you don’t get to know their whole story. I did enjoy it and loved his commitment to family.

[George Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir is anything but boring! Gritty, funny, nostalgic, honest and real, this book did not disappoint. Somewhat incoherent and poorly structured, you can
open the page at start of any of the 32 short chapters and read from there. You get snippets of various characters that crossed the author's life. However heartbreaking and harrowing, it is an entertaining read and made me long for days gone by.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A guy from a mafia infested neighborhood in Brooklyn tells his story. Almost everyone he knows dies young from violence, drugs, or AIDS. He managed to get educated, and sort of leave, although for a guy who tells us how much he hated the neighborhood, he seems to spend an awful lot of time there.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vincent Coppola brings the reader to his growing up years in Old Gowanus, a very rough neighborhood. The excitement of harrowing and hilarious friends and characters. He captures a lost world in all of its glory.
The Mafia and the Catholic Church dominate the codes of silence as well as the neighborhood.

I want to thank Henry Holt and company for sending me this wonderful ARC book.

[MB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to a Goodreads giveaway I’ve read an ARC copy of this book in return I’m providing my honest review of the ARC.
The concept of the book is what sparked my interest; however the layout of the book was so disjointed and contained repetitive occurrences of previously read scenarios at times. If written more chronologically the read would have been much better with elimination of repeats.

[Carol Dimitriou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir is a remembrance of a bygone time on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Filled with stories of Mafia wise guys, drugs, the Catholic church and schools, and enormous Italian American families, and, of course, the wonderful Italian food, it envelopes you in the past. The extremely polluted Gowanus Canal is a major character as well. Entirely engrossing.

[Deborah Schuman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories. It would have been more enjoyable for me to read if it had been written chronologically. I'm going to share it with my friends who grew up in Brooklyn. They should be able to follow it better.

[Bridgette · Rating 5 out of 5]

*well-written and easy to read
*as a grandchild of Italians who grew up in Brooklyn, it is as if my grandparents wrote this book themselves
*very descriptive and keeps the reader engaged
*highly recommend

[Fg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in Brooklyn, but the Gowanus area was a world away. Vinny Coppola takes the reader through a neighborhood where education is frowned upon and wise guys exalted. His storytelling is riveting. I can't recommend this book highly enough.